The Alplas gilded cage

Modern

I spent three years building my husband, Axel Farrell, into Silicon Valley's ultimate "family man." As his lead PR strategist, I carefully managed his public image, making sure the world saw him as a perfect, devoted husband while I worked in the shadows of our estate. The illusion shattered when he came home one night smelling of sandalwood and roses, with three deep fingernail scratches carved into his back. When I tried to check his phone, the passcode we had used for years-our wedding anniversary-had been changed. The betrayal got worse the next morning when his mother called me a "defective product" and tried to force me into a fertility clinic. Axel didn't defend me; instead, he shoved me against a marble bar at a public gala to protect his mistress in front of the world's elite. By the time I tried to leave, Axel had frozen my bank accounts and filed a forged legal petition to have me declared mentally incompetent. He planned to have me legally kidnapped and locked in a private psychiatric ward just to stop me from filing for divorce. He even blocked every major law firm in the city from taking my case, leaving me with no money, no identity, and no one to turn to. I couldn't understand how the man who "saved" me from the mud years ago could be the same monster now trying to legally erase my existence. Was our entire marriage just a grooming process to exploit my genius for his billion-dollar empire? As the deadline for my forced commitment approached, I stopped crying and opened my laptop. I leaked the video of his affair to every tech journalist in the country, watching his stock price crash in real-time. "Axel thinks starving me out will make me crawl back to him," I whispered as I walked into the headquarters of his biggest rival. "But he forgot that the most valuable part of his company is in my head." I was no longer the abandoned wife; I was the one who was going to take his throne and burn it to the ground.

Werewolf

She was his enemy. Then she was his prisoner. Now, she is his soul-bound prey. Arielle Monet was raised to be a queen of the French Syndicate-loyal, lethal, and silent. When she is captured by the ruthless "Devil of Marseille," Girard Roux, she prepares to endure hell for her family. She waits for t

History

"You're just my tool. Know your place." It's her duty to follow her master's command. Even at the risk of injuring herself or losing her mind. It's his right to make use of her cold-heartedly. Even discarding her when she had become useless. She was a bird trapped inside a gilded cage, slowly

Modern

I was Anderson Mathews' sugar baby, his pretty little thing. But when I saw him kiss his sister-in-law, Hope-his one true love-I knew I had to escape. I planned my exit meticulously, aiming to disappear the second my contract ended. I would become a scientist, find a kind, ordinary man, and build

Billionaires

The blinding flashbulbs popped as Leo Sterling' s hand dug into my back. To the world, we were a power couple-the tech mogul and his beautiful, indispensable assistant. It was a lie everyone in Silicon Valley knew and repeated. "Smile, Ava," he murmured, his voice a low command meant only for me

Romance

It was our eighth wedding anniversary, and my husband, Mark Johnson, wasn't home. He was celebrating another woman's birthday, as usual. I sat in the silence of our gilded cage, the emotional wounds from years of neglect and indifference finally festering. He never hit me, not until tonight, but

Billionaires

The media called my wedding to Damian Blackwood a modern Cinderella story. They didn' t know it was a gilded cage, and I was the bird about to be locked inside. As I stood in my bridal suite, my sister Jessica walked in, her husband Leo trailing behind. Her eyes raked over my expensive dress, and

Mafia

Becoming a bride to settle a debt was never part of my dreams. Yet, my stepbrother's betrayal and a trap party turned my life upside down, shattering my illusions of a joyful marriage. Now, I'm faced with the harsh reality of being married to a ruthless Mafia boss, Alessio Marino. Can I trust his

Modern

I was the wife of Callan Drake, the man who conquered death to save me. Our love was a modern myth, and for five years, I was his most prized possession, living in a gilded cage everyone envied. But on our fifth anniversary, I discovered his perfect devotion was a lie. He was cheating on me with hi

Billionaires

My world revolved around the resonant strings of my cello and the man I loved, Ethan. Even after the devastating miscarriage, I tried to find solace in music, in the quiet rhythm of our opulent New York life. But that life shattered on a single, horrific night. Ethan claimed he wanted to cheer me

Romance

I was the "diamond" of the Sargent Foundation, a perfect orphan polished for the cameras and high-society galas. But beneath the glittering chandeliers, I was suffocating. When the pressure finally broke me and I tried to flee the Sargent Gala, I wasn't met with comfort. I was hunted down by securit

Mafia

Everyone thought I was the pampered queen of Marcus D’Angelo, New York's most feared Don. But I was just a placeholder for the woman he couldn't have: his cousin, Izzy. The truth shattered everything at a family dinner. A waiter tripped, sending a tureen of scalding soup flying toward the table. W

Modern

It was our tenth wedding anniversary, but the party felt exactly like the nine humiliating ones before it. My wife, Vanessa Thorne, a dazzling socialite to the world, was my warden, and tonight, she paraded her newest "toy," a young model named Liam. "Show him the ropes," she purred, her eyes alig

Romance

Ava Hayes lived a life that glittered like ice, a promising figure skater poised for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, coached by an ambitious mother and partnered with the charming Ethan Vance. Then she woke up, not from a dream, but from a terrifying, crystal-clear memory of a future that had

Modern

To save my dying father, I made a deal with the billionaire Christopher Kirkland. I became his secret, a bird in a gilded cage he paraded around when it suited him. But I was just a pawn in his twisted game to win back his ex-girlfriend. He proved it when he publicly outbid me for my own mother's

Mafia

A Gilded Cage, A Dangerous Heart Elara Vance dreamed of a life defined by quiet victories and the comforting scent of old books. Escaping a childhood shadowed by abuse, she had painstakingly built a fragile sanctuary with her chosen family, Liam and Chloe. For two blissful years, the scars of her pa

Adventure

(Underground rewritten) After five years and seeing death's door for the first time, Riley is back, better and stronger than ever with Cameron by her side. They are back where everything started. Back where they first met. History is about to repeat itself.

Romance

Her world was art, colorful, chaotic, and crumbling. His was power, cold, calculated, and built on secrets. When a desperate act forces a contract marriage between a fragile artist and a ruthless CEO, their union becomes a high-stakes gamble. She needs a miracle to save her cherished art center; he

Literature

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not

Modern

My life felt like a flawless painting: a thriving art gallery in SoHo, a visa to expand to Paris, and a husband, Ethan, whose grand gestures-even donating a kidney-painted him as the epitome of devotion. But the hushed "whispers even in paradise" I overheard at the French consulate soon materialize

Billionaires

My son, Andrew, killed me. Not with a weapon, but with a slow, agonizing betrayal that drained every ounce of life. I spent my entire existence and my formidable family' s legacy building a golden path for him, scheming and battling to make him a hero, while I became everyone's villain. For my trou